Super Edgy Colbert, Others Wear Tan Suit At Obama’s Fortress Dedication

Er, his presidential library

Revenge of the tan suit at the Obama Presidential Center ceremony

Presidential scandals just hit different in 2014 — we called this one “The Audacity of Taupe.” Then-President Barack Obama was feted as a cool guy with surprisingly good style for a world leader; first lady Michelle Obama was a fashion icon in her own right, and the young family in the White House injected a Camelot-like vibrancy to the notoriously dowdy Washington, D.C., scene.

Yet when the president emerged on Aug. 28 to discuss foreign policy, the headlines slipped past the possibility of military action in Syria or tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Obama wore “a beige-colored jacket and a gray, striped tie,” as PolitiFact put it. “Yes we tan!” some wags joked on social media; “Taupe and Change” quipped others. Other commentators dissed the decision to wear a military-adjacent color, given the topic of the news conference; one Republican Congressman called it “unpresidential.” Presidents of both parties going back decades have worn tan suits, including Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, with no controversy. The outrage over the fashion choice, fueled by social media and cable news, was viewed as a double standard and an example of underlying racial bias in determining what is deemed professional or not.

Yeah, yeah, there was no real scandal, it was people making fun of Obama. The only people making it a scandal were the media. And, of course, they had to try the raaaaacism aspect.

The infamous tan suit became a punchline for years to come, even as some Democratic politicians came to embrace the look, as then-Vice President Kamala Harris did during her own nominating convention to the presidency in 2024. The suit itself is not at the Obama Presidential Center, per chief corporate affairs officer Michael Strautmanis, but during the opening ceremony on Thursday, multiple guests and celebrities paid tribute to the look.

It did? Did anyone mention it other than some whiny media after a couple days? But, of course (you can see the photos here with the paywall removed)

Here are our favorite tan suits among the crowd at the Obama Presidential Center opening ceremonies.

Actor and comedian Stephen Colbert wears a tan suit Thursday at the Obama Presidential Center hours before the grand opening ceremony on the South Side.

That’s the kind of edgy cringe that got Colbert such a low audience, lost at least $40 million a year for CBS, and got him cancelled. Is anyone really missing him? After a quick appearance on public television no one talks about him. No one is saying “man, I wish the Late Show was still on.” You also had State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford, Martin Nesbitt, the Obama Foundation board chair, U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Ill, NBA legends and Chicago natives Dwyane Wade and Isiah Thomas, and David Letterman wearing tan suits. So edgy!

Edgy! Something from 12 years ago!

You know what is also edgy?

Obamas Welcome Hollywood Elites, Famous Friends to Presidential Center Opening as Unpaid Subcontractors Claim Millions Owed

Former President Barack Hussein Obama and his wife Michelle welcomed a long list of Hollywood celebrities, former president, and world leaders for the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, even as the Center has been engulfed in controversy for allegedly stiffing many black-owned building contractors for their construction fees.

The grand opening for Obama’s controversial and imposing Center in Chicago was a star-studded affair on Thursday, featuring performances from Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Hudson, The Roots, U2’s Bono and The Edge, and many more, Breitbart News reported. (snip)

But even as Obama waxed poetic about Chicago’s South Side and celebrated “democracy,” his Obama Presidential Center has already become mired in controversy even before opening after a growing number of contractors — many of whom are black-owned businesses — are saying that the Center has not paid them for their construction work.

Construction companies are now reporting that the Center owes them amounts ranging from the tens of thousands to multiple millions in unpaid construction fees. And in the case of many of the black-owned businesses, they face bankruptcy if they don’t get paid soon, Fox News reported.

Weird how most of the Credentialed Media do not care about all those businesses not getting paid for construction of Obama’s North Korean style gulag building.